


In Which Sophie and Howl Babysit

by bobblemonkey2



Category: Howl Series - Diana Wynne Jones, Howl no Ugoku Shiro | Howl's Moving Castle, Howl's Moving Castle - All Media Types
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Family, Family Vibes, Howl being paternal, One Shot, Sophie being awkward, bookverse, quite cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:02:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27425383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bobblemonkey2/pseuds/bobblemonkey2
Summary: Howl's niece, Mari, is due to spend the day at the moving castle, and Sophie worries that she won't make a good impression.
Relationships: Calcifer & Sophie Hatter, Mari Parry & Howl Pendragon, Mari Parry/Sophie Hatter, Sophie Hatter/Howl Pendragon
Comments: 14
Kudos: 99





	In Which Sophie and Howl Babysit

**Author's Note:**

> All characters belong to DWJ. This one takes place after HMC and before CITA. Just a little note for context, for any non-Brits, a CapriSun is a sugary orange juice drink, and The Worst Witch is a book series from the 70s about some young witches at magic school! I took some inspiration from my own life here because I also used to role-play the Worst Witch at school with my friends and always got stuck being my least favourite character (btw I was at school in the 00s, idk how a book from the 70s became such a big part of my childhood but then HMC was written in the 80s and look at me go). Enjoy!

Sophie had awoken at the crack of dawn that autumnal morning and had not stopped pacing since. Her frantic steps even jostled Calcifer from his deep slumber, which only served to further agitate the both of them. 

‘What’s all this commotion for? Don’t you know fire demons are supposed to sleep for 16 hours a day!’ He grumbled.

‘I’m sorry Cal, I just can’t stop thinking about Mari coming over today,’ she said gnawing at her fingernails.

‘Well could you think a little quieter and maybe in a different room!’ The demon scoffed.

Sophie had never felt very maternal - even when she was basically mothering Martha and Lettie while Fanny and their father worked all day in the hat shop, she had felt more annoyed than enamoured with the two young girls. In truth, she could never be bothered with childish frivolities, and she hadn’t the faintest idea how to express any interest in things that children enjoyed. Howl, on the other hand, had a natural talent for babysitting (something that Sophie thought was down to his own immaturity and baby-like temperament) - and she envied him for it. Of course, he would be with Mari and her today, but what about those moments when he left the room, she worried. What if she and Mari had nothing to connect over? Would Howl judge her for her lack of maternal instinct? Would he maybe even doubt his decision to make Sophie his partner in their ‘happy ever after’? All these thoughts raced through her head until her pacing was abruptly stopped by Howl emerging from the bathroom.

‘What are you doing up so early?’ Sophie asked as the wizard plodded downstairs.

‘Early? It’s nearly noon - I’m going to fetch Mari,’ he grabbed his Welsh Rugby jacket from the sofa and began putting it on.

‘What?! No, wait Howl-‘ she grabbed the other sleeve of his jacket in an attempt to keep him from leaving. ‘I think we ought to reschedule I’m feeling very sick and I think I’ve got a temperature,’ she panicked.

‘Hmm,’ Howl placed a hand on her forehead. ‘You seem fine to me - if your stomach is bothering you I’ve got a potion for that.’

‘No really Howl, trust me I’m very ill - it’s probably contagious! I’ll have infected the whole castle by now, I don’t want Mari to catch anything and-‘

‘Cariad,’ Howl cut her off. ‘It’s okay if you’re nervous,’ he pulled her in by the waist. ‘Mari doesn’t bite, I promise - well except for that time I told her I’d thrown her Furby in the bin, but that was very unlike her.’

‘Humph,’ Sophie sighed, leaning into him. ‘I haven’t really been around children since I was one - what if she hates me?’ She looked up at the wizard for reassurance.

‘She could never hate you,’ he tucked a piece of red-gold hair behind her ear.

‘Oh confound it! Well, you better go and get her then,’ Sophie gave in.

‘Alright, I’ll be a few minutes - you may want to change out of your nightgown while I’m gone.’

——

Sophie felt stiff as a board in the blue trousers Howl had set out for her to wear - apparently they were called ‘jeans’, and it was important that she wear them so Mari didn’t ask too many questions about where they lived, though Sophie didn’t see what was wrong with her usual Ingarian clothing. She fiddled with the hem of her shirt, a flowy white blouse that was more her style, as she sat in the living room patiently waiting for the door to open.

‘Don’t you look… interesting,’ Calcifer offered a half compliment from the fireplace.

‘Thank you,’ she replied hesitantly, ‘shouldn’t you be gone by now?’

‘Oh charming, I pop in to say something nice and get ordered to leave!’ He crackled.

‘I think we need to have a conversation about what the word ‘nice’ means after today,’ Sophie chuckled. ‘Anyway you really should be going now, you’ll give Mari a fright if she sees you.’

‘I’m going, I’m going - I just wanted to say good luck,’ he smiled.

‘Thanks, Cal,’ Sophie smiled nervously back. After a small ‘whoosh’, the fireplace was once again empty, save an actual fire, and Sophie found herself alone with her inner anxieties.

———

‘Sorry we’re a bit late,’ Howl called as he emerged through the castle door with Mari sitting on his shoulders. ‘Mari was showing me her new doll’s house and I was mesmerised by the decor - I might have to steal some of those design tips from you, kid!’ He placed her gently down on the floor.

‘Wow!’ The young girl’s mouth gaped open. ‘Your house is so cool, Uncle Howell!’ She ran up to Howl’s potion store and began fiddling around with various spices and crushed herbs.

‘Now Mari, you haven’t even said hello to Sophie!’ 

Sophie was now standing tentatively beside Howl, feeling for the first time in a long time, lost for words.

‘Hehe, hello Sophie,’ Mari went a little pink as she walked up to her de facto aunt. She flung her arms around Sophie’s legs in a tight embrace.

‘Oh! Hello Mari,’ she patted her on the head, unsure what else to do. Howl stifled a laugh and was met with a stern look. ‘It’s nice to see you again.’ 

‘Why don’t I make us all some tea?’ Howl chimed in, sensing Sophie had run out of things to say. 

‘Uncle Howell! I don’t like tea anymore!’

‘And why ever not?’ Howl knelt down to his niece’s height.

‘It’s too brown! I don’t like drinking brown things!’

‘So what do you want to drink?’ He asked.

‘Hmm...’ the little girl wondered. ‘Capri Sun?’

Sophie looked at Howl in confusion, and he once again tried to stifle a laugh, only this time failing. Perhaps this was another Welsh word, she thought.

‘I’m afraid we don’t have any Capri Sun, cariad.’

‘Noooo!’ She whined. ‘No, no, no!’ Sophie could see a tendency for tantrums ran in the family. ‘Pwease, Uncle Howell!’

‘Okay, okay, you’ve won me over - I’ll go out and get some.’ He started towards the door.

Suddenly, it dawned on Sophie that she would have to be alone with Mari sooner than she expected - she’d barely said two words to her yet and now she’d have to entertain her for the foreseeable future.

‘Why don’t I go instead?’ She darted towards him.

‘Do you even know what a Capri Sun is, dear?’ He raised an eyebrow at her.

‘Can’t you conjure one then?’ She lowered her voice so Mari wouldn’t hear.

‘Not from a different dimension, you should know that Mrs Witch,’ he smirked.

‘Ugh!’ She sighed quietly. ‘Well please don’t be long,’ she conceded.

‘I’ll be back before you know it,’ he flashed a winning smile before giving Sophie a kiss on the forehead - and then it was just the two of them.

‘So, Mari...’ Sophie thought - what do kids like? When she was a child she’d liked reading and sewing, but something told her that Mari wouldn’t be as entertained by those humble Ingarian hobbies. Perhaps she could teach Mari how to clean? After all she had been meaning to get a particularly belligerent stain out of the living room rug for quite some time now. 

‘What’s this?’ Mari cut into Sophie’s thoughts. She was pointing to a mortar and pestle on the desk, which contained a mixture of cinnamon, clove and chilli. 

‘Oh that’s a little spice remedy I was working on earlier,’ she said making her way over to Mari’s side. She had taken a keen interest in the desk, so it seemed Sophie wouldn’t have to look far for entertainment.

‘What’s it for?’ She looked up at Sophie with beaming blue eyes, and for a second Sophie could have sworn they were Howl’s.

‘Well you can do lots of things with this mixture,’ she dragged a chair over for Mari to sit on. ‘You can make it into a drink, add it to food, maybe even turn it into a scent for your house - here, smell it,’ she brought the bowl underneath the girl’s nose.

‘Mmm it’s lovely!’ She chimed.

‘Isn’t it!’ An awkward pause fell between the two for a moment before Sophie continued. ‘Did you know, all of this stuff is really good for your health too, especially this time of year.’

‘Really?’ 

‘Oh yes, of course! Look at this-‘ she paused as she searched for the bottle of violet juice she had been working on the day before. ‘This is made with violets - you know, the flower - you can drink it when your throat feels sore and it’ll make you better.’ Of course, it helped that most of these mixtures would be charmed by Sophie or Howl before being sold, but Mari didn’t have to know that.

‘That’s so cool! It’s like a potion!’ 

Sophie was taken aback by the mention of magic. ‘How do you know about potions?’

‘They make them in my favourite book series - it’s called The Worst Witch, have you read it?’ 

Suddenly, connecting with Mari didn’t seem like it was going to be so difficult after all.

——-

‘…and then I had to play Maud because Christy wanted to play Mildred-‘

‘What’s all this?’ Howl interrupted his niece who was sat at the dinner table sipping a mug of tea with Sophie, as he entered the kitchen,

‘Uncle Howell! I was telling Sophie about how me and my friend’s were playing The Worst Witch at break time the other day - Christy always gets to be Mildred, it’s so unfair!’ She whined.

‘And is that tea you’re drinking?’ He pointed at her mug.

‘Yup! Sophie made it for me - it’s got cinnamon, chilli, and…’

‘Clove,’ Sophie chimed in with a smile as she took a sip from her own mug.

‘Well it must have been a different little girl I was talking to half an hour who was telling me how much she hated tea and loved Capri Sun!’ He plonked a box of Capri Sun on the table in front of them.

‘Well, I like this tea now - I don’t want a Capri Sun anymore,’ she said matter-of-factly in a tone that reminded Sophie very much of Howl.

’Typical, I break my back trying to give everyone else what they want and no one appreciates me as usual!’ He rolled his eyes and threw his hands into the air.

‘Oh stop being so dramatic, Howl!’ Sophie chuckled.

‘Yeah, stop being so dramatic, Howl!’ Mari copied, and the two erupted into a fit of giggles. ‘Can I have some more tea pwease, Sophie?’ She asked politely.

‘Of course,’ Sophie got up and went over to the potions desk, where Howl joined her momentarily.

‘So I can see you two are all pally-pally - if only it weren’t at my expense,’ Howl whispered.

‘Don’t blame me if she leaves this castle preferring me over you,’ she joked, though she sensed Howl was actually worried about such an outcome.

‘How did you end up getting her to warm to you while I was gone?’ He asked.

‘Well,’ she looked over at Mari who was happily messing around with a mortar and pestle at the kitchen table. ‘It seems your niece and I have more in common than I originally thought.’


End file.
